Kubek-King, Royal Southern Brotherhood heat up North River Blues Festival

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By Carol Gafford

The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

The final day of the 2013 North River Blues Festival at the Marshfield Fair ended in two blazing headline sets, proving that Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King are among the hottest bluesmen, and the Royal Southern Brotherhood should be playing stadiums. It was a fine conclusion to a superb weekend of music, enhanced by near perfect weather and large crowds.

The Royal Southern Bortherhood is certainly not misnamed, since it includes two younger members of legendary musical families from the South, in guitarist Devon Allman, son of Gregg Allman, and Cyrille Neville, youngest of the first family of New Orleans soul, the Neville Brothers. Drummer Yonrico Scott, whose previous gig was with the Susan Tedeschi-Derek Trucks Band, is joined by bassist Charlie Wooton, and singer-guitarist Mike Zito, providing stellar support even if their names are lesser known.

Sunday's big finale ran late, mainly because the RSB played close to two hours, with the packed area in front of the stage crammed with dancers throughout. Music fans who love the Allman Brothers, or the Neville Brothers, or pretty much anything from Professor Longhair to Marshall Tucker, will probably find a lot to like with this band. Everyone but Scott and Wooton takes lead vocals, both guitarists trade off lead lines, and the rhythm foundation laid down by Neville's percussion and Scott and Wooton was truly infectious, no matter the tempo.

The invigorating swamp-funk of "Fired Up" was an early highlight from RSB, but the more midtempo ballad-like "Hurts My Heart" showed the depth of their songwriting. Allman's vocal on "Gotta Keep Rockin'" made that driving soul-rocker really stand out, and he and Zito crafted some hellacious guitar lines too.

"Fire on the Mountain" might have been the song that most resembled the Allman Brothers Band, with its keening slide guitar from Zito, smart lead lines from Allamn, and surging rhythmic momentum from everyone else that kept it interesting through its entire length of about 12 minutes. Zito sang a most impressive lead on the gritty ballad "Left My Heart in Memphis," an easy-flowing number with sharp slide accents adding tart contrast.

Cyrille Neville's showcase was the jaunty and utterly joyous "Sweet Jelly Donut," a kind of love song that rode a panoply of New Orleans polyrhythms, with some dazzling Scott and Wooton solo work. Neville and Allman shared vocals on the anthemic soul-rocker "(Heading for the) New Horizons," which featured an insistent deep bass line figure that kept the dancing contingent gyrating gleefully. The regular set ended in a crescendo of blues-rock fire, as Allman sang his dad's band's "One Way Out," as the RSB juiced it up with some more of those delectable rhythmic stews.

For their final encore, RSB did a bold cover, as Neville turned the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" into a Crescent City-accented, soul-rocking inferno that was just as much a celebration of the quintet's conquering one more exhausted audience.

Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King have a new album arriving in stores on September 17, and unveiled a lot of the new material in their semifinal set. But much of their 90-minute segment also included jams with several local and visiting musicians joining their quartet, with excellent results.

Early on the bluesmen seemed to offer a thematic parlay, with the grinding roadhouse blues apparently called "I've Been Crazy For Another Man's Wife," followed by the smoother soul-shuffle "Stop Messin' With My Gal." A jump-blues instrumental featured Kubek quoting several pop tunes in his incendiary solo, as the band made sure it kept roaring along. A big, bad bass vamp framed "Healthy Mama," where King sang of women-who-aren't-Twiggy, as Kubek's sizzling single-note solo gave that idea even more power.

The guest appearances started after that with Marshfield keyboard star Little Anthony Geraci joining Kubek and King for a remarkable reworking of the blues staple, "Li'l Red Rooster," where they turned it into a laidback swing tune, with sparkling Kubek slide guitar. Geraci stayed on, and was joined by New Jersey guitarist Todd Wolfe--whose band had played in the area this weekend, and local harmonica ace Cheryl Arena. The quartet/septet turned "Hands on Me" into a long jam with lengthy solos from all the principals, with Geraci's boogie-woogie, Wolfe's lightning licks, and Arena's waves of blues-harp chords enhancing the night no end.

All the guests stayed on for a good-natured romp through "Stop Drinking That Wine," where the creeper bass line underlying everything was more a humorous aside than an ominous tone. Once again all three guests acquitted themselves well, and Kubek's final guitar solo tore the roof off the tiny stage.

Back to their quartet format, Kubek and King delivered a real curveball, playing The Beatles' "Don't Bother Me" as a slow, acoustic blues, where King's guitar solo was all jazzy soul. It was a magnificent re-interpretation of the old chestnut, and a neat change of pace after all the fire that had preceded it. The next number from Kubek & King was a choogling, syncopated toetapper called "It Was Good When It Was Good," with equal parts funk and swing. After a thunderous roadhouse blues-rock instrumental, Kubek and King returned to encore with "Real Good Lover," a boogie-blues where Kubek's slide guitar work elevated it into the stratosphere, as the dozens of dancers spun and twirled in the gathering darkness.

The yeoman work of playing mini-sets between all the main stage acts went to Basic Black, and that foursome was, as usual, one of the fest's unsung heroes with music that was never less than thrilling. Quincy guitarist Sam Gentile and his mates turned the well-traveled "Going Down" into a really pulverizing piece of rock 'n' blues before the RSB set.

Earlier Sunday, performers included Diane Blue and her band, Willie J. Laws and guest star "Johnny Bluehorn" Moriconi of Quincy, and the popular South Shore act Mission of Blues. Saturday's show included Mississippi Heat, Sugar Ray Norcia & the Bluetones, Gracie Curran & Her High Falutin' Band, Mr. Nick's Dirty Tricks, and the second stage stars the Tim Gartland Group. WATD blues deejay Peter Black acted as the host and emcee all weekend. The only flaw in the weekend's events, was that pianist Eden Brent, slated to be the semifinal act Saturday, missed her plane from Mississippi, but by the end of Sunday's triumphant notes, festival promoter John Hall could even laugh about that.